I’m sure Mick and I are going to very much enjoy our final house sit on this adventure of living abroad.

We are staying just outside the market town of Chagford, with a population of just under 1500, on the north-east edge of Dartmoor (National Park) in Devon (or Devonshire), which is shown in this map as the red area. We have never been to this county before.

We have lots of animals to care for on this assignment and we are staying in a (very beautifully renovated) 16th Century farmhouse with a thatched roof.

It will take a few posts to show the beauty of this property as there are many interesting out buildings as well as the main house.

We have one dog – a nine-year-old German Pointer – who adopted us as soon as we arrived. I think he is used to having house sitters.

Unlike the last house sit, this dog is not allowed on beds or furniture. He sleeps in the kitchen of a night and enjoys lots of exercise each day. Normally he walks beside his master as she rides her horse in the woods, but for the next three weeks he will have to do with Mick and I strolling in the woods.

There are also two (farm) cats, no names for them, and we have not spotted them as yet. They live mostly outside, and we just need to make sure there are some cat biscuits left for them on an outside window. We were told we may not ever see them.

One of the interesting features of this property is the water channel which runs through it. Mick is absolutely fascinated by it. The noise of the gushing water is quite loud when you are outside, but absolutely silent when we are inside the house with its more than a metre thick walls.

There are also 14 sheep in one paddock – one ram, one white wether and a dozen ewes. The area around Chagford is perfect for producing sheep for wool, and these ones are reared for breeding and for market.

Every morning Mick must feed them some fresh hay, and if it is icy, break the ice on the water trough. They are pretty tame.

In the same paddock as these sheep is a Shetland Pony called Molly.

She is pretty sad at the moment because her friend, the horse our host rides each day, has gone elsewhere for agistment until they return from their holidays. She requires a little affection, some horse pellets, and a carrot every now and then.

In another paddock are three lambs, being kept separate from the flock with the ram, for the time being. They are skittish and they require a little bit of hay each day.

As well as some sheep ‘nuts’ or pellets placed into a feeding tray.

Luckily our hosts have rubber boots that we can borrow while we are here. The ground is very soggy as they have had a lot of rain recently. I am really hoping there is no snow or ice because the roads into and around Chagford are very, very narrow. They really are capable of only one car at a time and if there is another one coming the other way, one of the cars must find the closest pull-off space, which might be behind the driver. I actually hate reversing. It was hard enough managing all that on a relatively fine day.

The dog gets exercise by chasing a stick as well. But, I think he is going to need some help selecting a more appropriate size.